J-Novel Club has announced a partnership with digital publishers Podium and RBmedia to create audiobooks based on a select group of light novels. The new partnership was announced at J-Novel Club’s Anime NYC 2022 industry panel.
In addition to licensing more new content for their digital catalog, they have also announced a partnership with Yen Press to handle the physical publishing of some of its titles.
With their partnership with Podium, J-Novel Club will produce audiobooks of Patora Fuyuhara’s In Another World With My Smartphone and Schuld’s Min-Maxing My TRPG Build in Another World light novel series.
In Another World With My Smartphone has already inspired a 2017 anime series, with a second season due for release sometime in 2023. Eiji Usatsuka provided illustrations for the light novels, which J-Novel Club describes as:
After a freak accident involving some lightning winds up zapping him dead, 15-year-old Mochizuki Touya wakes up to find himself face-to-face with God. “I am afraid to say that I have made a bit of a blunder…” laments the old coot. But all is not lost! God says that he can reincarnate Touya into a world of fantasy, and as a bonus, he gets to bring his smartphone along with! So begins Touya’s adventure in a new, anachronistic pseudo-medieval world. Friends! Laughs! Tears! Inexplicable Deus ex Machina! He sets off on a journey full of wonder as he absentmindedly travels from place to place, following whatever goal catches his fancy. The curtains lift on an epic tale of swords, sorcery, and smartphone apps!
Min-Maxing My TRPG Build in Another World was first published on April 24, 2020 with illustrations by Lansane. The light novel series is described as:
Commissioned in death to save a world in peril, a tabletop RPG fanatic is reborn as a humble farm boy with the rulebook for the universe at his fingertips! Young Erich’s quest for an invincible character build will require more than his decades as a number-crunching munchkin, though. Even with power-leveled skills, feudal life is no cakewalk—especially when you keep drawing more attention than you can handle… Can Erich adapt to his strange new world before his worst impulses take the campaign of a lifetime completely off the rails? Let the dice fall where they may!
Meanwhile, J-Novel Club’s partnership with RBmedia will produce seven audiobook series based on a variety of popular light novels. Many of the selected light novels have already received both existing and upcoming anime adaptations. The list of light novels set to receive audiobooks include:
- • By the Grace of the Gods by Roy (writer) and Ririnra (artist)
- • Reborn to Master the Blade: From Hero-King to Extraordinary Squire ♀ by Hayaken (writer) and Nagu (artist)
- • Black Summoner by Doufu Mayoi (writer) and DaiXt (artist)
- • How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom by Dojyomaru (writer) and Fuyuyuki (artist)
- • The Faraway Paladin by Kanata Yanagino (writer) and Kususaga Rin (artist)
- • Hell Mode by Hamuo (writer) and Mo (artist)
- • My Daughter Left the Nest and Returned an S-Rank Adventurer by MOJIKAKIYA (writer) and toi8 (artist)
Source: press release
